Vote totals:
Yes:
60%
No:
30%
Neutral:
10%
DEBATE: CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAN BE JUSTIFIED
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAN BE JUSTIFIED
It makes governments more accountable
We elect a government for an average of four or five years. During these years there is very little law-abiding citizens can do affect change or make their voices heard. Protest and civil disobedience against laws not voted for by the general public can provide an outlet for public opinion and provide a very direct, if crude, method of representing and empowering the oppressed and disenfranchised in a society.
1) The fact politicians want to hold on to power makes them accountable throughout their term in office. They wouldn’t do anything which would alienate people dramatically for fear of losing votes. And there are many more ways to show that votes will be lost than breaking the law.
2) There are also local elections between general elections, where parties can be rewarded or punished for their actions in government, acting as a very good barometer of public opinion without the need for civil disobedience.
3) Civil disobedience puts pressure on the state to privilege the interests of the civilly disobedient minority over the majority. Compare this with voting, in which anyone who chooses to exercise their vote has equal say. This is why it makes sense to say that voting makes governments "accountable to the people", whereas civil disobedience in a democratic society is (often) anti-democratic.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAN BE JUSTIFIED
Sometimes it’s the only tool in the box
Civil disobedience was practised to great effect by people such as Ghandi and Martin Luther King. It is difficult to imagine the change they effected coming about any other way – or certainly as quickly. Their civil disobedience corrected a huge injustice at a time when no politicians took them seriously. In fact Martin Luther King said that not only was it okay to break unjust laws but that we have a moral responsibility to do so. As St Augustine said, ‘An unjust law is no law at all.’
There is a difference between breaking the law to make a point and mass protest of an entirely legal kind. If Ghandi or Martin Luther King had been able to rally enough people they would have created enough publicity for their cause and they wouldn’t have had to break the law.
In a democratic society, civil disobedience is never the only "tool in the box." There are always the power tools. In a democracy, the power tools are simply the legal channels. While the actions of Martin Luther King, Junior should certainly be applauded, we must look to two instances in which the legal channels were far more beneficial.
First, MLK orchestrated a great showing in his march from Selma to Montgomery. The spotlight shined brightly on this march. Often revered as a great act of civil disobedience, the fact is that MLK acted completely within the law. The legal channels cleared the way for him to march, and the issue rose to national prominence. No where did civil disobedience occur, so we see that it is never the only tool left in the box.
Furthermore, arguably the most significant Supreme Court case of the Civil Rights era occurred exclusively through the legal channels. Brown v. Board of Education occurred in 1954 without any civil disobedience. The issue of segregated schools rose to prominence and was properly addressed.
Quite simply, civil disobedience is never the only tool in the box in a democracy. There are always various avenues to obtain change. More often than not, these avenues are far more appropriate and capture the need for change much more than an often senseless act of breaking the law.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAN BE JUSTIFIED
Sometimes it’s the only way to publicise an issue
Marches are a waste of time; witness the hundreds of thousands who marched fruitlessly against the war in Iraq. But people will notice someone getting arrested – especially a celebrity. We might not like the fact that this is true but we can’t deny it is so. Causes need the oxygen of publicity and one of the best ways to get that is to get someone famous arrested.
Civil disobedience can quickly turn into outright confrontation and even violence. Both Ghandi and Martin Luther King struggled to contain their followers and there aren’t very many leaders like them around.
Saying people should get arrested is tantamount to giving them free reign to do whatever they want to get publicity. And let’s not forget the term ‘oxygen of publicity was first applied to the IRA – hardly models for the civil disobedience movement.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAN BE JUSTIFIED
Sometimes the law is wrong.
The law has been created by the controlling elites, to serve their purposes. When one has a different purpose, bringing one into conflict with the law, why would one not break it? What possible virtue is there in obedience for the sake of it?
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAN BE JUSTIFIED
Understand laws before you obey them
Laws are a human construct: someone proposed them and implemented them for a reason and sometimes these reasons are completely unjustified. Therefore, disobedience can be justified.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAN BE JUSTIFIED
Yes, but yet slightly no.
Civil disobedience doesn’t have to be violent; just look at Gandhi. It can be an effective way to essentially tell the government,"Hell No."
Unfortunately however, not everyone is logical or full of common sense and sometimes the best intentioned non-violent disobedience can transform into a mob with mindless violence on their mind and foam frothing from their mouth; utter chaos out of order.
Still, even with that said, I believe orderly civil disobedience is justified. See: The Civil Rights Movement – Much of it was civil disobedience.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAN BE JUSTIFIED
It sets a bad example
Sometimes we have to break an unjust law. The legislature is fallible, laws can be made for the interests of particular groups and they can become outdated. When this happens the very many people who benefit from the status quo will fight to keep it as is. In this case, there is often no alternative but to refuse to abide by a law which is morally wrong.
We can’t go around saying its okay to keep some laws and break others. The law is not a basket from which we get to pick the ones we like and ignore all the rest; that way leads to anarchy. We need to send a message that the only way to change the law is through legitimate means.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAN BE JUSTIFIED
The debate can become overshadowed by the violence
Whilst violence is always regrettable it is entirely possible the issue would not have got attention without it. And whilst some people will be dissuaded others are intelligent enough to look for the arguments behind the issues. Perhaps coming to a site like this to see how the other side thinks. When that happens the truth eventually emerges.
Often the media focuses not on the civil disobedience but on the violence or lawlessness which accompanies such acts. When that happens the aims and objectives and often very good arguments get completely lost and the public, whose support is essential for change, tend to side with the status quo.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAN BE JUSTIFIED
Civil disobedience is a form of civil war
It is unfortunate but sometimes we do need to act against other members of the public in order to achieve a society that is fairer for all. Civil disobedience must be non-violent and when it is so the public suffers only inconvenience. Which is surely a small price to pay to correct an injustice.
When people engage in acts of civil disobedience they end up doing so against other members of society. The public suffers, the public pays the price. This is unacceptable.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAN BE JUSTIFIED
An act of civil disobedience sets a precedence of breaking the law.
If civil disobedience is used, a precedence of breaking the law in order to obtain change occurs. When this happens, any person with a personal belief in a cause can engage in civil disobedience and violate the law of the land. With the precedence firmly established, where is the line? If civil disobedience becomes an accepted form of lobbying for a law change, does the law not become useless? Does a constant cycle of law breaking with personal vindication ensue? To engage in civil disobedience is to walk on a slippery slope. The line is so unclear and so fragile that chaos and lawlessness may follow. Quite simply, to break the law in order to obtain change does nothing but create a false sense of justification for even more people to break laws in order to reach an end.
Justification - one of the most complicated, loaded terms in politics today. Any action can simultaneously be justified and unjustified by different criteria. Clearly civil disobedience must be unjustified in some sense if it is to be called so - legality is perhaps the most commonplace form of justification. Yet to even consider this a debate justification must extend further. How about justification from results? Torture for information is a particulary volatile case in point. Is an appeal against a more hostile form of action always justified? Sit-ins practised in the US civil rights movements against discrimination and violence are a strong example. Fundamentally, the argument is more about justice than the particulars of civil disobedience. Some of the points above are interesting but don't bring us any closer to resolving the debate (if that's ever possible).